~ Metal Genres  ~

The following page contains short summaries of the main metal genres.

It explains where and when the ideas began, and what the music is like.

After the titles are the names of groups that are classified under the genre.

Heavy -

Candlemass, A Sorcerers Pledge, Lupine Moon, Scepticism

This genre began through rock during the 1960’s, namely the work of Black Sabbath, whose music expressed paranoid feelings and nihilism, and was constructed with industrial sounds. Heavy metal is often distinguished by down-tuned guitars enhanced by the bass.

Death 

Demigod, Deadsoul, Gutted, Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Deicide

Beginning with the fears communism in the west, death evolved to preach feelings of nihilism, a lack of believe or meaning of existence. It expressed the view that death is more real than anything else in the world, and the style of music revolves around grim riffs with depressing rhythm and deep groaning vocals.

Black

Darkthrone, En Ås I Dype Skogen, Summoning, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor

Black metal finds meaning in the honourable warrior mentality of the medieval era, and is about aspiring to be intellectually superior. The style builds upon the raw rhythm of death metal by adding a more melodic feel, with each song revolving around a certain melody formed by the transition of tones, often performed with keyboards. 

Grindcore

Naplam Death, The World Keeps Turning, Repulsion, Carcass

Grindcore is a combination of black and death. It takes the deep vocals of death and combines it with the more energetic sounds of black. It focuses on furious riffing, which seems as though the sounds are 'grinding' against each other.

Thrash

Cryptic Slaughter, Nuclear Future, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Corrosion of Conformity

Thrash is similar to punk in terms of the political views and ideas it expresses. It is distinguished by very simple riffs, often with only two a song, which are played at a fast speed and powered on by shouting vocals. It requires innovative thinking by the musicians, but not as much talent.

Speed

Nuclear Assault, Nuclear War, Voivod, Powrmad, Prong

Speed Metal began during the Cold War, and is about topics like war, pollution, nuclear weapons and corporate domination. It has a complex and explosive style, played at fast speeds. It remained primarily mainstream and has died out, with its techniques feeding into the death, grindcore, and thrash styles.

Doom

Scepticism, Cathedral, Ceremonium

This style exists as a branch from both the death and heavy genres, and is all about self pity and sentimentality. It revolves around slow chord changes and a resonant feel, aimed at making the listener feel depressed.

Melodic

Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth

Melodic metal is distinguished by the emphasis of melody in the guitar riffs and having fluidly changing tones. It’s designed to evoke tension, released upon the changing or repeating of riffs. The release of tension creates emotion,  and gives the style its melodic feel.

Epic

Cirith Ungol, Manowar, Medieval Steel

Epic metal is primarily about fantasy themed songs. They build upon a medieval or historical theme, and may tell a story powered on by long melodies. The overall result of the songs are long, in many cases over ten minutes each. They may use orchestra effects to  add a sense of volume, and keyboards to add a melodic feel.

Other

More sub genres include: Narrative, Stadium, Punk, Grinding, Oi, Percussive, Trance, Progressive, Rigid, Dissociative, Crustcore, Deathgrind, Deconstructivist, Blasting, Ritual.